The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation announced Wednesday that its Board of Directors has approved $1,568,812 in Vibrant Community grants, Anchor grants, and Donor-Advised grants to support a variety of organizations in Tacoma and Pierce County. This brings the year-to-date funding to more than $2.9 million in grants and scholarships for fiscal year 2013, which began in July 2012 and ends next month.

“Through our individual and collective giving, we’re investing in positive change throughout our community,” said Rose Lincoln Hamilton, President and CEO of the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. “The nonprofit organizations receiving support help to sustain and strengthen our region, and help ensure it’s a place that allows each person the opportunity to thrive.”

One-third of the grants (totaling $528,300) were awarded to 75 organizations as annual and multi-year grants through the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation’s Vibrant Community Grantmaking program. The Vibrant Community platform is the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation’s largest discretionary grants program and encompasses five focus areas: arts and culture, basic needs, education, environment, and neighborhoods and communities.

Both well-known organizations with proven track records as well as innovative and newer programs were selected as grantees. The largest grant was a multi-year award totaling $30,000 to the Northwest Leadership Foundation.

Nearly half of its basic needs grants were directed toward organizations working to provide housing assistance. Three grants went to support nonprofits involved in a new collaborative effort entitled Housing 4 Success (H4S). Launched in January, H4S provides transitional housing for unaccompanied youth and young adults experiencing homelessness, of which there are an estimated 3,000 in Pierce County.

“Many of the young people who find housing through H4S have nothing when they move into their new home because they have been moving from place to place,” said Kurt Miller, Director of the REACH Center, one of the agencies involved in the collaborative. “The Vibrant Community grant funding will pay for essentials such as kitchen utensils, sheets, pillows, and any other necessities they need in their first weeks in their new apartment.”

More than $900,000 in grants and scholarships were awarded from the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation’s Anchor funds — those established by generous community members to support areas they care about most. These include agency, designated, field of interest and scholarship funds that are held by the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. Organizations receiving the largest grants include the Boys & Girls Club of South Puget Sound, Friends of Lakewold, University of Puget Sound, Washington Business Alliance, and YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties.

An additional $121,521 was awarded in grants from 14 Donor-Advised funds held at the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation.

The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation is a philanthropic organization in Pierce County that aims to foster generosity by connecting people who care with causes that matter. By pooling community funds, the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation provides effective, long-term social investment strategies to donors and people of Pierce County in order to address emerging issues facing the community. Building a safe, vibrant, engaged community is central to the mission of the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation awarded over $3.7 million in grants and scholarship during FY2012. Over the last 31 years, the Community Foundation has distributed more than $87 million in grants and currently manages $91 million in assets.

More information, a full list of organizations that received support, is available online at gtcf.org.